Set-piece coaches have become Arsenal's best recruits, and Chinese football needs such experts even more

The reporter reported coldly Who is Arsenal's best signing in the last 3 years? It's not Rice, Odegaard, it's 43-year-old German assistant coach Jovre. Because he single-handedly made Arsenal the team with the most goals from set-pieces (excluding penalties) in the Premier League. Since becoming Arsenal's set-piece coach in the summer of 2021, Arsenal have scored 58 set-pieces (excluding penalties) in the Premier League in three years, an average of 0.45 set-pieces per game. In the 2020/21 season before his arrival, Arsenal only had six set-pieces (excluding penalties), averaging just 0.16 goals per game, ranking third from the bottom in the Premier League.

Jovre has tripled Arsenal's goals per game from set-pieces (excluding penalties), which last season topped the Premier League with 20 set-pieces (excluding penalties) and equalled the Premier League's record for corners scored in a single season (16). Arsenal have scored seven set-pieces (excluding penalties) in 14 Premier League games this season, an average of 0.5 per game. Arsenal have scored from 22 corners so far last season, the most in the same period in the top five leagues, with 10 of them breaking the deadlock and scoring 25.2 per cent of set-pieces (excluding penalties) (30 of 119).

Jovre's set-piece tactics are very diverse: initially passing the ball to the near or far post, then relying on players to run to disrupt the opposition goalkeeper's attack and create header opportunities for the forward centre-backs. Arsenal usually have as many as five players scattered across different positions in the penalty area, making it difficult for opposition defenders to mark and increasing the probability of shooting from the first spot. Jovre wanted to give set-piece tactics a unique style with a strong personality, developing set-piece tactics into an independent, informative technical and tactical system. His experience in North America taught him to use the tactical design thinking and methods of American football, and to incorporate the set-piece tactics of soccer.

Born in Berlin, Germany, Jofer received his master's degree in physical education from Quebec, a French-speaking province in Canada. From 2016 to 2019, he worked as a set-piece coach at Brentford, scoring 46 set-pieces (excluding penalties) in three seasons, before joining in the summer of 2019 when he was invited by Arteta, then assistant coach of Manchester City. Two years later, Arteta, who was in charge of Arsenal, brought him to Arsenal. Jouffel is known as "Mr Set Piece" and professional set-piece coaching has become the new trend in Europe. Even FM24's football game introduced the role of a set-piece coach for the first time.

The Brentford boss is an expert in big data analytics and strongly believes that well-crafted set-piece tactics are intimately linked to winning games. Italian set-piece specialist Vio became Brentford's first full-time set-piece coach in 2015/16 before joining Antonio Conte at Tottenham and helping Italy win the European Championship in 2021 before now working as a set-piece coach for the United States.

Jovre was Vio's successor at Brentford, and Maresca took over at Chelsea in the summer to poach set-piece coach Cueva from Brentford for £750,000 and set up an independent set-piece working group. Today, at least one-third of the 20 teams in the Premier League have dedicated set-piece coaches, and in addition to Jovre, Manchester United's George Song, Chelsea's Cueva and Wolves' Wilson are the best.

When Unai Emery was in charge of Aston Villa two years ago, the only previous assistant left was set-piece coach McKee. McPhee took the lead last season when Villa became the first team in Europe to score 20 set-pieces (excluding penalties) in a single season and qualified for the Champions League. The opposite is Tottenham, which still has no set-piece coach, and has conceded fewer goals from set-pieces (excluding penalties) than Nottingham Forest since last season, ranking second most in the Premier League, which is completely inconsistent with Tottenham's status in the top six of the Premier League.

Not only corners and free-kicks, but also throw-ins became the focal point of set-piece tactics. In 2018, Jurgen Klopp brought in Danish set-piece specialist Gronnemark, who soared Liverpool's throw-in possession rate from 45.4% to 68.4%, a statistic that Liverpool rose from 18th place in the Premier League to the top of the table, and within two years Liverpool won the Premier League and Champions League trophies, and the increase in set-piece possession, especially throw-ins, was an important factor. Gronnemack emphasised that there will be between 40 and 60 throw-ins per game, with a total of 20 minutes consumed. How to make the best use of the throw-in and the associated game time is the key to winning the game.

In contrast, the Chinese Super League, especially the national football team, needs professional set-piece coaches more than ever in set-piece attack and defense to improve the quality of set-piece attack and defense. In particular, the national football team conceded as many as 6 goals from set-pieces in 3 games against Japan, Saudi Arabia and Australia in the round of 18, and the set-piece conceded goals became the biggest shortcoming of the national football team's defense. If the national football team wants to concede as few set-piece goals as possible in the four crucial round of 18 matches next year, hiring a high-level set-piece coach like Joffel is the most effective way.